It can be difficult sometimes financially to keep up. There are so many things to buy, so many wants and getting the wants confused with the needs. The bills start to roll in but the business of life has you forgetting what you have spent and what you still can spend. Then include the broken appliance or your child’s bicycle that needs fixing, oh and your car insurance was just raised and you can be in for a financial storm. When you consider all that can happen to someone that affects their pocket book, it is not all that surprising how one can get swamped with bills.

I never thought it would happen to me. I was trying to be a saver rather than a spender. I was the one that saved for a rainy day but things caught up to me then I found myself stuck in a rut and had to turn to loans to keep me afloat. I had a car that was worth a half decent amount and I figured that if things got bad enough, I could just sell it. So, with bills growing, I went and took out a loan from the bank based on a fraction of the value of my car. This gave me some breathing room. I was then hit with a pay increase at work. This was a shocker, I did not think that would happen, but I had the choice to either take it or lose my job. I really had no choice so I took the cut. Automatically this put me in a worse off financial state, but I kept on going.

After 2 months of being able to pay my bills and spend a little bit too I found I could not longer save and actually started dipping into my savings to survive. It was 3 months after this that I was hit again hard, I lost my job and had to sell my car. I used the money to pay back what I owed the bank but then there I was without anything and bills still coming in. It became obvious very quickly that I was in trouble and could not pay my bills. I did get another job 1 month later but I was not behind in my payments and starting to pay only fractions of what I owed on my credit cards. It was not long before the interest started to balloon. I was in financial trouble.

I had heard about these debt consolidation help programs but did not know anything about them. I was not sure if they could help me or just what the situation was with them. But I made a decision to simply call one and ask some questions. What I found was that they could consolidate my debt so I was not paying as much interest and I could pay it back at a rate I could afford. It helped me get back on my feet and out of debt. Thanks to them, I can now start saving my money again and not spend it on interest. I have also learned to be a little more smart in where I spend and where I do not. I learned to create a budget that works for me but still have some spending money as well. All in all I think I have learned a little more about the value of money and how to treat it.